Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity of Electrospun PAN/Ag-G NFs Under Solar Irradiation for Effective Degradation of Hazardous Organic Dyes

Abstract

Solar light induced organic pollutant degradation is an ideal approach for wastewater treatment and environmental challenges. The as-synthesized nanofibers (NFs) exhibited significant photocatalytic activity towards both the dyes (anionic and cationic) under solar light irradiation. Present work reports, preparation of Ag−G nanoparticles (NPs) impregnated in PAN NFs using electrospinning technique. The recyclability of Ag−G NPs impregnated PAN NFs becomes very easier due to formation PAN NFs mat with impregnation of highly porous structure of Ag−G NPs as compared to powder catalyst. The as-prepared PAN/Ag−G NFs were subjected for structural, optical and morphological study. Under solar light irradiation, PAN/Ag−G NFs shows excellent photocatalytic performance of methylene blue (MB) (88.19%, 75mins) and methyl orange (MO) dyes (82.5%, 90 min) degradation respectively. TOC values and rate constants of the samples indicate the superior catalytic efficiency as compared to Ag−G NPs and PAN NFs. Under solar radiation, mechanism and plausible pathway of photocatalytic dye degradation is also reported.